Toughbook CF-18 clean OS install issues on new HD

I have a Toughbook CF-18 that I use to surf the internet and read my e mail. Not much else. It was given to me and I have enjoyed it mainly for it's small size and it's wireless capabilities. It is a few years old.

Recently the HD became corrupted.

I removed the HD and using the info on that I purchased a new one. I also purchased a Pioneer external CD/DVD drive in order to reinstall Windows XP Pro Tablet onto the new HD since of course it has no CD drive of it's own.

I installed the new HD.
I hooked up the external CD drive with Recovery CD 1 in it, booted up and received the error message "model not supported".

I made sure that CD was the top device listed in the boot menu of the BIOS.

Since I am not a model and I do not need support I assumed it was the CD drive it was referring to.

Having built and re built many a desktop I have a few internal CDs in my parts stash as well as a little kit that makes them IDE to USB capable.

I hook one up to the Toughbook and get the error message "media test failure - check cable"
"exiting PXE ROM"
"operating system not found"

I tried this with 4 different CD drives including the one from the computer I am using right now.

Now, from reading through the threads in this forum (which were very informative BTW ), that this machine can use any CD drive - not only the one Panasonic says, and that the error message is common since of course there is not operating system on a clean HD.

What the heck am I doing wrong? I have been working on this for 3 days and am ready to throw it against the wall.

 

Welcome to the forum!

You have the wrong recovery disks! You can load XP with a regular Win XP Pro CD and use your key on the COA on the bottom of your laptop. You can download the drivers from Panasonic.

 

These are the recovery discs that came with the laptop. They specifically read CF - 18 Recovery Disc 1, 2 & 3. And I assume they are the tablet addition.
If I use XP Pro then no tablet features.

And the drivers from Panasonic would be for what reason - I am a bit confused. For hardware specific to the notebook?

 

Ann..., TB..probably right you have the wrong recovery cd's. Will you pls post your model no. just like CF-18XXXXXX at the bottom of the unit and also what MARK the recovery cd's? There are mark I, II, III of cf-18 if I am not mistaken. You can not loose the tablet features of the unit if you can download and installed all the drivers from panasonic after installing win xp pro just to make sure you download the right one for your unit.


BTW, don't throw it on the wall, its bad. Throw it to my way.

ohlip

 

CF-18BHAZXKM is the model of the laptop
On the CDs the mark - I think this is what you are asking for since they all start with MK is MK1-XT1M-W. That is on all 3 CDs, but CD ROM 1 is marked above that as DFQX3667MA, CD 2 is DFQX3667MA2 & CD 3 is DFQX3667MA3.
The wrong discs were packed in with the Toughbook?

Now let's say I happen to have a less than genuine XP Pro disc - will that do the trick? All the machines in my house run various forms of Vista except this Toughbook. I beta tested it for MS and they sent me the 32 and the 64 Ultimate Editions free.

 

Hi! it seems like you have the right recovery cd's for your unit. Dumb Q? are you sure this unit have not yet been tampered?

Ok! last thing before you run to seup again load the default settings and then adjust usb cd rom first prioity again. Let see what happen.


ohlip

 

I am pretty sure the unit wasn't messed with though one can never be sure since it was used by another person before me. How can I tell? If this is a new HD and I am using the correct CDs would it make a difference? Were can I see the tampering if any?

Also, I tried resetting the BIOS back to default and then back again to CD. No luck on that. USB is not listed though.
CD, floppy, HD and LAN.

If I got my hands on XP which one would I need?

This is all very odd. I have been fixing desktops for years and first attempt at a laptop is a mess.

 

Tried a retail version of xp prof. let see again what happen but I am pretty sure it will work as long as your cd rom work also and then download all the drivers from pana.. site and installed it. Good luck and more hair pulling



ohlip

 

I know the CD ROM works because I used it on my desktop right up until the other day when I uninstalled it for this fiasco. So that is a given.
What I am wondering is maybe the TB does not "see" the USB connection from the CD ROM to the TB?

I will have to hunt down an XP Pro disc and then use the CD key from under the TB.

Question? Do TB ship with an actual Windows XP Pro Tablet Edition CD?

I just tried an XP Home restore CD that came with my Dell desktop a few years ago and no go. Zippo. Nada.

Is there a way I can attach the TB to my Dell Desktop and install XP from there? Computer to computer?

 

So, if someone doesn't mind telling me, what do the recovery disks do? I own a Toughbook CF-18, and I'm in need of reformatting my laptop. I got this laptop about 3 years ago with JUST the charger included. Are these recovery really necessary for reformatting?

 

The recovery disks not only install the operating system but also install all the drivers. And Toughbooks have A LOT of them. Since they are bigger, better than any other laptop in the world (Yes... I love them!) they have a lot of hardware that need special drivers as well as special software apps. If you install just the OS then you need to download all the drivers (Touchscreen, video, hotkey, et al) from Panasonic and install them yourself. The recovery disks also make very quick work of the entire installation. On my CF-29 using the recovery disks.... I can install the OS and drivers in about 15-20 minutes. Using XP and loading the driver manually takes over an hour usually... Sometimes sooner but not by much.

Sorry... I forgot the CF-18 & 19 use the tablet format. You are correct...XP by itself wouldn't give you total functionality. One day I'll buy one and play around with it.

 

Just a wild shot. Are TB factory shipped HDDs configured with a hidden partition because from what operating manuals / user guides I come across, there is the initial laptop setup and occasionally, a choice between OSes, eg. Win2k or XP.

There won't be such partitions in new HDDs for the CDs to detect and recover. Make sense?

 

So that leaves me .... where if I cannot get the OS installed on the new HD with the recovery CDs?
I keep thinking it's that the TB is not seeing the USB connection of the CD drive I am using. I have tried several.

Is there some way to test this? Some disc or utility CD I can try in order to see if there is some sort of issue there?

EDIT: can I cal or e mail Panasonic for a replacement OS?

 

No, no hidden partition. The ones that have the option of XP or 2K, both sets of install files are there. You boot up to an option saying you have to choose one or the other before you can do anything else. You pick one, it finishes installing, and deletes the stuff for the one you didn't choose as if it never existed.

edit:
By the way, the 18s go up to Mark 5. This needs verification from the others here but I'm not sure the 18 mk1 can boot to a thumb drive but if they can, it may be possible to install from that instead.

AnnmarieD - This probably won't pan out but go into the BIOS and look on the first page. It should tell you the model and serial number there as well. See if the model is the same as the sticker on the bottom.

 

Both the SN and the model number match.
I borrowed a retail full XP Pro CD - not an upgrade - from a neighbor to see if I could get a boot. Nope.
Is there anything I can do to prove that the TB sees the CD drive?

It was suggested to me on another site that I buy an adapter to make the 2.3 drive fit a 3.5 IDE cable in my desktop and install the OS there then pop it back into the TB.
That sounds a bit awkward and iffy at best.

Right now I am at a total loss as what to do next. I have the XP Pro disc and I have the 3 recovery CDs and they are useless.

Prayer?

 

Your CF-18 is a MK1 PC edition which originally shipped with Windows XP. Your recovery disks are for a MK1 tablet PC edition so you have the wrong recovery disks and that is what the "model not supported" means. ie; you are trying to load an unsupported XP tablet on your Windows XP machine. The fact that you are receiving that message indicates that your CD-ROM drive is working properly at least with the recovery disk. I have received the wrong disks with some Toughbooks that I have gotten. So contact your dealer and ask them to replace them.

Oh and you can not convert windows xp to Windows XP tablet PC edition by downloading drivers from anywhere. XP Tablet is based on XP but has some special features that allow you to use the digitizer for handwriting recognition and other features. Your unit has a touchscreen and not a digitizer so you wouldn't be able to use the features of XP tablet even if you could get it.

 

If this machine shipped with XP then how did Windows XP Tablet Edition wind up on it? That is how I got it - plus the charger and the 3 recovery discs. I know it was the tablet edition.
I only get that error message "model unsupported" when I use the external CD ROM. I get another message "no operating system found" when I use the adapted internal CD ROM.

How can I tell for sure that the recovery discs I have are the real ones that came with the laptop?

I am getting a lot of conflicting info.

I would not mind plain XP Pro at all as long as I can update it like I was able to before the HD corrupted. Since it is a tablet that edition would be nice also. Either one but I know it had tablet on it.

 

Is there a Windows COA on the bottom? It should be labeled Windows XP or Wibdows XP Tablet edition. The model you have according to the model number you gave is not a tablet PC it is a touchscreen that ships with plain XP. Where did you buy the unit? The bottom line is you have the wrong recovery disc call the dealer and tell them you need the correct ones.

 

It IS labeled XP! You are right ! Wow ! But when I got it, friend was getting divorced and was clearing things out, it had the tablet edition on it. She gave me the box and in that were the recovery discs and a small booklet explaining how to use the tablet features. "for distribution with a new PC" is on the label of the booklet and before I removed the old HD I wrote down some info from Control Panel>System and it said Tablet Edition.
Someone is going to get slapped.
OK - so I call Panasonic in the morning and ask for recovery CDs? They just hand them out?
So I have a toughscreen TB and I need the recovery CDs for that?
Last question I swear - what CDs do I have and why would a retail version of XP not work?

 

Ok so it is confirmed you have a CF-18 PC edition and not a tablet. The recovery disc you have are for Tablet PC and as expected will not run on your unit. Is it possible that the previous owner had a few units and got the boxes mixed up? The box should have the model number printed on it and should match the unit does it?

I don't where you will get the correct disks as I doubt Panasonic will give you one. I thought you had bought it from a dealer and they would be the ones to help.

A bootable standard XP disk should work but you will need to do alot more work in finding and installing the proprietary drivers.

 

I no longer have the box. This machine ran with the tablet edition right up until earlier this week when I pulled the corrupted HD. It was stated in System.
The regular Windows XP disc I have does not work and the recovery CDs do not work.

How does one determine the CDs are incorrect?

 

You can tell because it is telling you they are wrong when you tried to load it. "Model not supported" there is a rouitine on the disk that checks the model number stored in the BIOS and the MK# and the original OS must match or it will halt with the error you got. Someone did a switcheroo on you. The only way you could have had Tablet edition on that unit is if somebody installed it via a ghost image or installed a drive from a tablet pc that was properly loaded. Don't know what else to tell you except that the correct recovery disks for your unit should be something like "MK1-XP1M-TS" or something very similiar.

 

OK - I think I am getting my mind around it now. It is making more sense. Funny thing is I only get that error when I use the external CD drive.

Question - having done this before on desktops with brand new drives with no issue - can I install a brand new legal copy of XP Pro on this TB? or must it absolutely use recovery discs from Panasonic? I can do without the touchpad and tablet features no problem.

I never had to change anything in the BIOS of a desktop in a clean install to make the OS "match" the machine - except maybe the boot order.

According to the COA sticker it is Windows XP after all.

 

Do you think, before I call Panasonic and make a fool out of myself for purchasing a TB with the wrong discs, I should call this place?
http://www.recovery-cds.com/panason...eywords=panasonic toughbook cf 18 recovery cd

Site looks a bit crazy but maybe it's an option. If I can get the thing to boot I can install XP Pro right?

Not getting the "model not supported message" this morning. Simply "OS not found".

I read elsewhere that it might be trying to boot from the network (which it is not on) so I disabled LAN in the BIOS.

Still nothing. CD is the top choice.